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Labor History in New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

John E. Martin
John E. Martin
Affiliation:
Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand
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Abstract

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Type
Country Report
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 49 , Spring 1996 , pp. 166 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 1996

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References

NOTES

1. This article is dedicated to the memory of Bert Roth, who died in 1994, and whose work has been so important to the study of labor history in New Zealand. His generosity in sharing his knowledge and unparalleled collection of archival sources knew no bounds. I would like to thank Erik Olssen in particular for his comments on a draft of this article, and also Melanie Nolan.

2. For a comparative discussion of New Zealand's early development of the welfare state and the central role of the arbitration system, see Castles, Francis G., The Working Class and Welfare (Wellington, 1985).Google Scholar

3. Reeves, William Pember, State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand, 2 vols. (London, 1902)Google Scholar and The Long White Cloud (London, 1898).Google Scholar Following Reeves, J. T. Paul, president of the Otago Trades and Labour Council, and an important contributor to the early Labour party, wrote a number of short articles on trade unionism in the province of Otago. These works essentially commemorated the heroic age of the establishment of trade unions in many sectors around the turn of the century. See, for example, “Trades Unionism in Otago: Its Rise and Progress, 1881–1912,” in Souvenir of the Otago Trades and Labour Council's Industrial Exhibition (Dunedin, 1912).Google Scholar

4. See Olssen, Erik, “Where to from Here? Reflections on the Twentieth-Century Historiography of Nineteenth-Century New Zealand,” New Zealand Journal of History 26 (1992).Google Scholar

5. See Martin, John E., “1890: A Turning Point for Labour,” in Pioneering New Zealand Labour History: Essays in Honour of Bert Roth, ed. Walsh, Pat (Palmerston North, 1994)Google Scholar, for a critical assessment of this taken-for-granted watershed. Note that the question mark at the end of this article's title was omitted in error by the publisher!

6. Salmond, J. D., “The History of the New Zealand Labour Movement from the Settlement to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894,” M. A. thesis, University of Otago, 1924.Google Scholar This was later edited and published in a highly condensed form as New Zealand Labour's Pioneering Days (Auckland, 1950).Google Scholar

7. See the following: Crowley, D. W., “The New Zealand Labour Movement, 1894–1913,” M. A. thesis, Otago University, 1946;Google ScholarStone, R. C. J., “A History of Trade Unionism in New Zealand, 1913–1937,” M. A. thesis, University of Auckland, 1948;Google Scholar and “The Unions and the Arbitration System,” in Studies of a Small Democracy, ed. Chapman, Robert and Sinclair, Keith (Auckland, 1963).Google Scholar

8. Brown, B. M., “The New Zealand Labour Party, 1916–1935,” M. A. thesis, Victoria University, 1953;Google ScholarThe Rise of the New Zealand Labour Party: a History of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1916 to 1940 (Wellington, 1962);Google ScholarO'Farrell, P. J., “The Formation of the New Zealand Labour Party,” Historical Studies—Australia and New Zealand 38 (1962).Google Scholar The Labour government's period in office extended to 1949.

9. See O'Farrell, P. J., Harry Holland: Militant Socialist (Canberra, 1964);Google ScholarSinclair, Keith, William Pember Reeves: New Zealand Fabian (Oxford, 1965);Google ScholarSinclair, , Walter Nash (Auckland, 1976);Google ScholarOlssen, Erik, John A. Lee (Dunedin, 1977);Google ScholarGustafson, Barry, From the Cradle to the Grave: a Biography of Michael Joseph Savage (Auckland, 1986)Google Scholar, and Gustafson's, earlier, very useful Labour's Path to Political Independence: the Origins and Establishment of the New Zealand Labour Party, 1900–19 (Auckland, 1980);Google ScholarHowe, K. R., Singer in a Songless Land: A Life of Edward Tregear, 1846–1931 (Auckland, 1991).Google Scholar

10. See Hare, A. E. C., Industrial Relations in New Zealand (Wellington, 1946);Google ScholarMartin, John E., State Policy and Labour: One Hundred Years of the Department of Labour in New Zealand, tentative title (Christchurch, forthcoming, 1996), chapter 5.Google Scholar

11. Bassett, Michael, Confrontation 51': The 1951 Waterfront Dispute (Wellington, 1972).Google Scholar

12. Roth, Bert, One Hundred Years of Fighting Back: The Story of the Auckland Carpenters' Union, 1873–1973 (Auckland, 1973);Google ScholarAdvocate, Educate, Control: The History of the New Zealand Engineers' Union, 1863–1983 (Wellington, 1984);Google ScholarRemedy for Present Evils: A History of the New Zealand Public Service Association from 1890 (Wellington, 1987);Google ScholarAlong the Line: One Hundred Years of Post Office Unionism (Wellington, 1990);Google Scholar and Wharfie— ‘From Hand Barrows to Straddles’—Unionism on the Auckland Waterfront (Auckland, 1993).Google Scholar

13. Roth, Bert, New Zealand Trade Unions: A Bibliography, 2nd ed. (Auckland, 1977);Google Scholar with Bailey, Rona, Shanties By the Way: A Selection of New Zealand Popular Songs and Ballads (Christchurch, 1967);Google Scholar with Hammond, Janny, Toil and Trouble: The Struggle for a Better Life in New Zealand (Auckland, 1981);Google Scholar with Deeks, John et al. , Industrial Relations in New Zealand (Wellington, 1978).Google Scholar

14. Nolan, Melanie and Walsh, Pat, “Labour's Leg-Iron? Assessing Trade Unions and Arbitration in New Zealand,” in Trade Unions, Work and Society: the Centenary of the Arbitration System, ed. Walsh, Pat (Palmerston North, 1994), 27.Google Scholar

15. Sutch, W. B., The Quest for Security in New Zealand: 1840 to 1966, rev. ed. (Wellington, 1966 [1942]);Google ScholarPoverty and Progress in New Zealand: A Re-assessment, rev. ed. (Wellington, 1969 [1941]).Google Scholar

16. Simpson, Tony, The Sugarbag Years: An Oral History of the 1930s Depression in New Zealand (Martinborough, 1974).Google Scholar

17. Olssen, “Where to from Here?,” 69.

18. A conference on the labour process was held at the University of Auckland in 1988. Two papers from the conference were subsequently published: Martin, John E., “Control in the Shearing Shed: the Introduction of Machinery and Changing Workplace Relations in New Zealand,” Labour History 62 (1992);Google ScholarGreen, Anna, “Spelling, Go-Slows, Gliding Away and Theft: Informal Control over Work on the New Zealand Waterfront, 1915–51,” Labour History 63 (1992).Google Scholar Also see the special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations 9 (1984)Google Scholar for papers on meatworks, printing, office work and computerization.

19. Holt, James, Compulsory Arbitration in New Zealand: the First Forty Years, ed. Olssen, E. (Auckland, 1986).Google Scholar

20. Woods, N. S., Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration in New Zealand (Wellington, 1963).Google Scholar

21. The conference papers were published in a special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations 12 (1987).

22. Olssen, Erik, Red Feds: Revolutionary Industrial Unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour, 1908–1913 (Auckland, 1988).Google Scholar

23. Olssen, Red Feds, 220.

24. Olssen, Erik, “The Origins of the Labour Party: a Reconsideration,” New Zealand Journal of History 21 (1987)—published while his book Red Feds was still in draft.Google Scholar

25. Olssen, Erik, Building the New World: Work, Politics and Society in Caversham, 1880s–1920s (Auckland, 1995).Google Scholar

26. Richardson, Len, Coal, Class and Community: the United Mineworkers of New Zealand (Auckland, 1995).Google Scholar

27. Roth, Bert, Wharfie: “From Hand Barrows to Straddles”: Unionism on the Auckland Waterfront (Auckland, 1993).Google ScholarBollinger, Conrad, Against the Wind: the Story of the New Zealand Seamen's Union (Wellington, 1968). Unfortunately, another substantial study of the watersiders remains inaccessible since the author has prevented access to the thesis.Google ScholarGreen, Anna, “Battling on the Job: the Struggle for Control of the New Zealand Waterfront, 1915–1951,” Ph.D. thesis, University of Auckland, 1989.Google Scholar

28. Martin, John E., The Forgotten Worker: The Rural Wage Earner in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand (Wellington, 1990).Google Scholar Also see Martin, John E., “Whither the Rural Working Class in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand?,” New Zealand Journal of History 17 (1983).Google Scholar

29. The development of rural trade unions (especially for shearers) is dealt with in Martin, John E., Tatau Tatau—One Big Union Altogether: The Shearers and the Early Years of the New Zealand Workers' Union (Wellington, 1987).Google Scholar

30. Martin, John E. and Taylor, Kerry, eds., Culture and the Labour Movement: Essays in New Zealand Labour History (Palmerston North, 1991).Google Scholar

31. Fairburn, Miles, Nearly out of Heart and Hope: The Puzzle of a Colonial Labourer's Diary (Auckland, 1995).Google Scholar

32. Nolan and Walsh, “Labour's Leg-Iron?” 33.

33. Martin, State Policy and Labour.

34. Street, Maryan, The Scarlet Runners: Women and Industrial Action, 1889–1913 (Wellington, 1993).Google Scholar

35. Robertson, Stephen, “Women Workers and the New Zealand Arbitration Court,” Women, Work and the Labour Movement in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, special issue of Labour History 61 (1991), ed. Frances, Rae and Scates, Bruce.Google Scholar

36. Montgomerie, Deborah, “The Limitations of Wartime Change. Women War Workers in New Zealand,” New Zealand Journal of History, 23 (1989);Google Scholar and “Man-Powering Women: Industrial Conscription during the Second World War,” in Women in History, vol. 2, ed. Brookes, Barbara et al. (Wellington, 1993).Google Scholar

37. Nolan, Melanie, “Marx and Hormones: The Importance of Theory to Engendering New Zealand Labour History,” in ed. Walsh, , Pioneering New Zealand Labour History;Google ScholarNolan, Melanie, “‘Politics Swept under a Domestic Carpet’? Fracturing Domesticity and the Male Breadwinner Wage: Women's Economic Citizenship, 1920s–1940s,” New Zealand Journal of History 27 (1993)Google Scholar, and her “Women, Welfare and the State” project for the Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs.

38. For a preliminary discussion of such issues, see Martin, The Forgotten Worker, chapter 3, and Martin, Tatau Tatau. On the lack of a history of Maori involvement, see Taylor, Kerry et al. , “Towards a History of Maori and Trade Unions,” in eds. Martin, and Taylor, , Culture and the Labour Movement.Google Scholar